Ryan woke before dawn and while he quietly left the barn filled with the snoring multitude dimly remembered that his sleep had been interrupted a couple of times as most people had turned in fairly late. It was thus no surprise that the fire hadn’t been stoked and he was the first one moving about except for Mike and a new member that we’re on guard duty.
Ryan grabbed an armful of wood from the pile that had been stacked against the side of the barn and carried it over to the fire-pit. Once he had scraped the surface layer of ash from the top the radiant heat of dully glowing embers warmed his face so he carefully stacked smaller twigs and branches and started blowing. Within seconds a tiny flame started licking at the stacked deadwood and before too long the small flames danced merrily. Piece by piece he fed larger chunks to the growing flames and soon the fire was blazing properly.
The process of coaxing a new fire from yesterday’s hardwood coals always left Ryan with a vague sense of satisfaction because it reminded him of camping with his parent’s when young. With a grimace he also remembered how his dad used to harp on about the superior qualities of camelthorn and mopane wood, a piece of knowledge that Ryan only confirmed later in life after repeatedly dealing with inferior braai-wood.
Once the fire was securely burning Ryan started with a process of utmost importance. Brewing coffee had become a near religious ceremony after the dwindling stocks of the precious substance had led to strict rationing. The happy windfall of finding the various lodges pantries fully stocked with various coffees had been one of the happiest moments for addicts of the elixir of life yesterday. Thus, with only the slightest twinge of guilt, Ryan added two extra spoons of grounds to the first pot that was brewing on the fire since no-one was there to check on him and Mike and the new guy were not likely to rat him out to Susan or, god-beware, Katrina.
A yawning Leah was the next to emerge from the barn and Ryan graciously poured her the remaining half-cup of coffee. With unspeakable horror Ryan watched the teen vandalise the precious substance with two full spoons of sugar and Ryan could only lament the fact that sugar had been found in the pantries as well. Then, after she had added water to dilute and cool the concoction she shot-gunned the filled enamel cup in an instant. Ryan, who was still nursing his black brew could only shudder with revulsion.
“I’m ready. Let’s get started.” Leah said to him as she started moving away from the fire.
With the greatest regret Ryan finished the last of his cup and followed her around the side of the barn to where the pool had been. The formerly stagnant pit of putrefying matter had been cleaned out and filled with a fluid that was stinging Ryan’s nose. The pieces floating in the dark liquid were, as Leah informed him, the skin of the snake and porcupine as well as those from several smaller animals the Guild had killed the day before.
“So, I assume you know how to prepare leather?” Leah asked Ryan.
“Not really, mind running me through the process?” Ryan admitted without mentioning that he had no clue whatsoever besides the need to deflesh and salt the hide.
“Oh. Ok. So it’s basically only a couple of steps. One, de-flesh the hide. Optional two, salt and dry the hide. Three, soak in tanning solution, this can vary greatly. Four, stretch and dry the hide. Then you have leather. Traditionally the third step varies the most because different solutions and time spent soaking produce different results. It also depends on whether you use fresh hide or salted and dried hide. What we’re looking for is basically soft pliable hide we can use as clothing or under-amour and hardboiled leather. Generally the tanning process can take between a day to a couple of months. Fortunately, we can cheat.”
Leah’s exposition was short and concise. Ryan, who had looked at the Skill list that came with getting the Profession, had an inkling what she meant by cheating so he ventured a tentative answer: “The ‘Ablate’, ‘Tan’ spells?”
“Yes!” Leah showed her enthusiasm. “Ablate allows you to remove surface layers of a material. It’s a channelled skill that vaporises surface material in an area.” Then, with a slightly dejected shrug, she continued. “It’s still better to manually de-flesh larger hides because it uses quite a lot of Energy.” and then she perked up again, “But it allows very fine control over how much material you want to remove and leaves a uniform surface, great for smaller projects.”
“And tan?” Ryan prompted her, interrupting her contemplative silence after a few moments had passed.
“Tan does exactly what it says. It modifies the skin on a molecular level and tans it. It’s infinitely complex in application and I haven’t mastered a fraction of what it can do. I’ve been experimenting a lot and have managed anything from making leather hard as steel to liquefying the piece I was trying to make soft and pliable. It’s insanely energy hungry too. The good news is, once we use it in conjunction with leather that’s undergoing a natural tanning process you can basically put it on autopilot and it just speeds up the process immensely, at a much reduced cost.”
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“That’s nifty.” Ryan commented.
“Yeah, it allows us to actually process all the leather we have available. Also, dependent on the tanning process, you can somewhat modify the outcome.”
“If I understand correctly that means you can make a single piece of leather that’s both hard and pliable in different sections?” Ryan confirmed.
“Exactly. If utilised properly it greatly simplifies the armour crafting process. Way less stitching needed and the armour wears slower as a result.” Leah answered with even more enthusiasm, her eyes sparkling as she got lost in all the possible applications.
“That sounds great but very complicated to master. Can’t I just use already tanned leather and craft armour?” Ryan was considering how much time learning and doing all this would take.
“Sure you could. But when you process the hide into leather you gain a much greater understanding of its characteristics. As a result, you’ll be better equipped to actually craft the armour appropriately.” Leah countered. When she saw his crestfallen expression she mollified him. “Don’t worry. I won’t expect you to actually master this process. We’ll have dedicated crafters who will tan the hide according to specification. Eventually at least.” Ryan’s expression lightened and then fell again immediately as she continued. “I do however expect you to gain the basics. You will need to understand the characteristics of the leather if you ever want to craft decent armour. So for now, you can mess around with some of the sections of the porcupine hide. Thanks to its massive follicles its mostly useless for any applications we have considered and not a loss if you mess up. The snake skin is way too valuable for an amateur to mess around with. Any questions?”
Ryan, whose eyes were watering now that he had gotten significantly more than a whiff of the tanning pool, asked the first thing that came to mind. “What’s in that tanning solution? Its killing my nose.”
“Water, salt and an extract from a mutated form of the salt bush. It’s actually a fantastic herbal tanning solution that produces fairly hardened leather if its soaks for a while. It also produces softer leather if we shorten the period. Alexis is helping me cultivate and cross-breed several different strains, the weakest produces leather that’s comparable to the chromium process in quality within a week of soaking.”
“Ryan, who had understood only a fraction of that last sentence assumed that was a good result and grabbed the piece of soggy leather that Leah had fished out of the pool with a hooked stick. The piece pf hide was pockmarked with massive dimples and surprisingly heavy. He turned to Leah who was laboriously dragging a massive piece of snake skin hide to the side of the pool. “What do I do?”
“Hold onto it and let it soak in the solution while you cast ‘Tan’. All the stuff has been de-fleshed already. Identify it first.” she shot back as she focused on the skin in her hands.
Rodent Hide (Porcupine), partially tanned, quality? was the result his Identify returned. The fact that there was a question mark behind quality told Ryan that Leah’s conviction that he needed to learn the basics was likely well founded. He assumed that, with better understanding of the material he was working with, his Skill would be able to identify quality for him as well. He decided not to bother Leah who appeared to be focusing intently and tabled the question for later.
Ryan put his piece of leather back into the solution and focused on casting ‘Tan’. What resulted was the weirdest feeling that a Skill had ever resulted in. Ryan could vaguely sense that tendrils of Energy wormed into the piece of material and tried to feed him with information that his mind simply couldn’t parse. The Skill also felt as if it was aimless and Ryan had the vaguest sense that a query was pending. His Energy was draining, if slowly, but nothing appeared to be happening. Lost in the strange sensation it took Ryan a while to figure out that not only was he scanning the structure of the leather but also of the immediate surroundings thereof.
Eventually he came to understand that some of the molecules in the leather and a lot of the molecules outside were the same so he decided to introduce more of the molecules to the leather, remembering that the tanning agent was supposed to suffuse the material and so alter its structure. A sphere enclosed the piece and Ryan felt the Energy drain massively increase as it started constricting rapidly, the pressure forcing more of everything into the leather. Ryan bore down some more, he had plenty of Energy remaining.
He stopped when the Skill told him, vaguely, that the leather was losing cohesiveness and rapidly removed the piece from the pool. It felt soft, squishy and when Ryan lifted it higher it started tearing under its own weight.
“Try again.” came Leah’s voice. She must have been watching him for a while Ryan realised because she was comfortably ensconced in a camp chair that hadn’t been present when Ryan had started the process. Her feet rested comfortably on a huge roll of snake-skin leather and by the angle of the sun beating on his back Ryan realised that quite some time had passed.
Following her command Ryan fished out another piece of porcupine hide and started over. Another failure and time wasted. Then another, and another, and another. By the time Leah stopped him to go get lunch he hadn’t produced a single piece that she deemed acceptable. But, Ryan had to grudgingly admit, he had gained a far greater understanding of the material and his last Identify proved it, Porcupine leather, tanned, quality: atrocious.
Ryan could hear the smirk in Leah’s voice as she led him away from the pit. “Don’t worry. You’re free for the afternoon while I get started on designing your armour with Paulus. Tomorrow, we’re doing this again. And if necessary again, until you produce a piece of leather that I find acceptable. Only then will I let you assist with the crafting process. Better get it done before I’m done with the armour if you want to learn some more.”
To Ryan, the last sentence distinctly sounded like a threat. One he intended to take seriously.